Chapter 28

Ruan Qing said, “You were really quiet. I’m a light sleeper, but I didn’t even wake up when you opened and closed the door.”

“…”

She crossed her arms and added, “Just say it.”

Nian Qi hesitated, then quietly admitted, “I didn’t use the door.”

Ruan Qing was a bit confused. “Didn’t use the door? Then how did you leave?”

Nian Qi glanced uneasily at the open balcony. Ruan Qing walked over, leaning against the railing. To the left was her bedroom, and to the right was… the stairwell? Slowly turning her head back, she stared at Nian Qi in disbelief.

Since he had already confessed his identity, Nian Qi thought it was best to be honest with Ruan Qing, so she could advise him on what was acceptable and what wasn’t. In the past, scaling walls and rooftops was a routine matter, maybe just startling a night watchman occasionally. But here, it was evidently not something one could do without attracting unwanted attention or even an investigation.

Ruan Qing’s first reaction was a mix of amazement and amusement, like she had “struck gold.” But she quickly spun around and leaned over the balcony railing again, carefully inspecting every angle, even shading her eyes to peer at the building across the way. Finally, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew, looks like there aren’t any cameras pointed at the upper floors.”

She walked back inside. “I was really worried someone might have caught you on camera. Goodness, jumping a fence was already eye-catching, but scaling the 16th-floor balcony? If that got uploaded online, the internet would blow up.”

“Let me tell you, never underestimate today’s netizens,” she said, popping open a can of cold cola to calm her nerves. “People are incredibly resourceful now. If you so much as show your face or leave a clue, they can dig up everything about you. It’s a good thing you thought to wear a hat and hide your hair; otherwise, that braid alone could’ve given you away.”

As she sipped her cola, she scrolled through her phone, checking the residents’ group chat for any updates.

Meanwhile, Nian Qi was deep in self-reflection. His training had always stressed the importance of concealing his movements. Who would have thought that, in this world, even in a seemingly ordinary community where no one had any martial skills, there would be so many cameras and infrared sensors quietly tracking his every move? It was truly an unexpected setback. In his former world, such a mistake would’ve cost him his life countless times over.

After a thorough self-examination, he was about to speak to Ruan Qing when she suddenly started choking on her cola.

“Ugh, cough, cough, cough, cough!”

Nian Qi’s sense of foreboding returned. Sure enough, after catching her breath and wiping her mouth and chest with a tissue, Ruan Qing thrust her phone toward his face. “Is this you?”

He quickly took the phone to look. Taking advantage of the ongoing neighborhood discussion about a “thief,” someone had uploaded a video with the caption: “Can anyone confirm if this is our community? I saw this yesterday and it looks familiar.”

Apparently, a netizen had climbed to the top of a high-rise before dawn, trying to capture the city’s skyline at sunrise. The finished footage featured the sky and the rising sun right in the middle of the frame.

But while the netizen was admiring their work, they noticed something in the bottom right corner. Zooming in, they were surprised to see a person on the rooftop of one of the high-rise buildings in the background, seemingly practicing with a sword (or a blade?). Shocked, they posted this part of the footage online.

A neighbor saw the rooftops in the video and thought they looked familiar, possibly from this community. However, the view was from a higher angle that people weren’t used to, the footage was taken before dawn, and the image quality was poor since it was a cropped section of a larger frame. So, they shared it in the neighborhood group chat for others to help identify.

Ruan Qing’s face turned pale. Nian Qi’s face turned ashen. The two exchanged glances, and after a long moment, Nian Qi tentatively asked, “This… shouldn’t be recognizable, right?” Since the camera wasn’t focused in that direction and the image was cropped, even when zoomed in, it only showed a dark silhouette, making it impossible to identify any facial features.

Ruan Qing was furious. “So, it really is you?”

Nian Qi gave a sheepish nod.

Ruan Qing took the phone back, looked at the video again, then at Nian Qi, and asked, “How did you get up there? The rooftop should be locked.”

“I climbed up from the top floor’s stairwell window,” Nian Qi replied.

Ruan Qing was speechless.

She rubbed her temples. “What were you doing up there?”

Nian Qi answered honestly, “I practice martial arts; I need to train.” After all, he was an assassin who relied on his skills for a living, and training was essential.

Ruan Qing glanced at the stick on the table, then back at the video and Nian Qi. “What were you using?”

Nian Qi looked up. “A mop handle…”

What could he do? His blade had been “confiscated” by Ruan Qing, who had declared she wouldn’t return it anytime soon. Martial skills fade quickly if not practiced, so while wandering around the neighborhood at night, he had spotted some mop handles on a cleaning cart and “borrowed” one.

Ruan Qing vaguely remembered hearing the cleaning lady grumbling about a missing mop that day while waiting for the elevator. She massaged her temples again, put her hands on her hips, paced around the living room twice, and then turned back to him. “Come on, let’s have a serious talk.”

Nian Qi sat up straight. “Go ahead.”

“First of all, I don’t discriminate against your profession. I don’t care how many people you may have killed in the past; as far as I’m concerned, that part of your life is over. Let’s consider the old you dead and buried, and the new you starting fresh, completely severed from the past!” She said with great resolve.

Thinking of the world he came from, Nian Qi felt a tinge of melancholy, but he quickly nodded solemnly. “Understood.”

“And this,” Ruan Qing pointed to the blade next to her, “is absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not allowed to leave this apartment. Do you understand?”

“That knife of yours is sharp—it’s a real weapon!”

“Under no circumstances can you carry a real blade out in public!”

In fact, Nian Qi had already noticed that whether inside the residential area or outside, no one carried swords, knives, or other weapons. Other common weapons like staffs, daggers, steel whips, or bows were nowhere to be seen. In his original world, it was common to see people walking around with swords or spears strapped to their backs. Even ordinary people traveling long distances would carry weapons for protection. Those who could afford it would carry swords, while those who couldn’t would at least bring something like a machete or sickle.

Nian Qi’s expression hardened. “Is the government’s control really this strict?”

Ruan Qing corrected him, “It’s called the government, and yes, it’s not so much ‘strict’ as it is ‘thorough.’ Very, very thorough.”

She explained to him, “Forget about carrying a large blade—even walking around with a sharpened kitchen knife is out of the question. Anyone who sees you would immediately call the police.” She went on to describe the current standards for public safety and security management, which Nian Qi listened to attentively. He sighed in amazement, “While I wouldn’t say people can leave things unguarded or leave their doors unlocked at night, this truly is an age of peace and stability.”

“People definitely still lock their doors,” she replied. “No one dares not to. But carrying weapons on the streets is strictly prohibited. In places like subway stations, train stations, and airports, there’s security screening. Even if you hide a knife in your bag or suitcase, the machines will pick it up. Nothing can be concealed.”

To ensure he believed her, she sat down beside him and found a video online of security screenings to show him. Hidden items set off the alarm when passing through the detection gate, and security personnel also perform close inspections with handheld metal detectors. Anything hidden in bags appears with full clarity on the scanner, leaving no place to hide—just like the wall of surveillance monitors he’d seen earlier. This new reality stunned Nian Qi, making him realize how different this world was from his own.

Suddenly, a question occurred to him, “Are there still people who practice martial arts these days?”

“Oh, of course,” Ruan Qing said. “There’s modern fighting, like boxing, kickboxing, and MMA. Traditional martial arts are still practiced too. I saw a lot of martial arts schools when I toured the Shaolin Temple—kids start training from a young age.”

He asked, “And what do they train for? To join the military?”

“Not exactly.” Ruan Qing considered this. “I’m not too sure, but I think most of it is for performance. Some become martial arts instructors or work as stunt doubles in the entertainment industry.”

“Is that all?” Nian Qi felt the vast chasm of time between his world and hers. “Martial arts…” he murmured, “are skills meant to kill.”

Ruan Qing froze. This man, who had always been gentle, the one she was so used to seeing in an apron, calmly working in the kitchen with a quiet smile—his dark eyes suddenly held something different: a depth and sharpness, making his lips appear unexpectedly more alluring. For a brief moment, she found herself holding her breath. But just as quickly, the sharpness vanished, merely concealed, she was sure, not gone.

Despite living together for a week, sharing meals and spaces, Ruan Qing realized that she still knew him only on the surface. But that was alright. Nian Qi was a man with a clear mind; as long as he didn’t lose himself, he’d understand that, in this world, at least for now, Ruan Qing was the only person he could rely on.

“This is good, too.” He returned to his gentle expression, even smiling with a hint of relief. “No one uses swords anymore, so I guess there’s no one killing anyone either?”

“Ahem, there’s still crime and murder,” she replied. “No matter how society progresses, a zero-crime rate is impossible. But the underworld, the whole idea of it, doesn’t exist anymore. And as for assassins, that’s even more out of the question.”

“Here, let me give you a little lesson.”

…

“And that’s why this fugitive was recognized on the security camera as soon as he glanced at it while visiting the scenic area.”

“Yeah, at the Daren concert, they catch a few each year.”

“This is the ‘SkyNet’ system,” she explained. “Why was he caught? Well, he was foolish enough to use his own bank card at an ATM, and they tracked him immediately. This was a few years ago—now with everything tied to QR codes, it’s even easier. There was even this robber who forced a taxi driver to transfer money to his digital payment account. They caught him in no time.”

“People’s identities are linked to all of these things,” she continued. “Now you understand how important identity is, right?”

Nian Qi nodded, “Yes, I realized when I tried to talk to someone the other day—it’s impossible to get anything done without a verified identity…”

Ruan Qing looked at him, “Oh, so you went out during the day?”

She had told him to stay home and study until she was free to help him out later in the week.

“Well,” Nian Qi replied sheepishly, “I just took a walk around the area.”

“Got it, you were just scouting the area, right?” Ruan Qing smirked, quickly deducing his motive for his nighttime stroll. Occupational habit! “Making sure you know the layout, so if things go south, you have an escape route, huh?” she teased.

Nian Qi didn’t respond, but his pained expression seemed to say, How do you know everything?

Ruan Qing chuckled, “It’s an information gap, my friend. There’s a thousand years between us. In a single year, I probably process more information than you would in a lifetime.”

Seeing his curiosity, she elaborated, “Take our schools, for instance. Kids here start in elementary, and each grade has around 12 classes of 45 students each. With six grades, that’s about three thousand people in one school. Every day, a kid is exposed to three thousand people. Was that even possible in your time?”

“No,” he replied with a sigh.

Ruan Qing smiled. She glanced at the clock and noticed it was getting dark—it had gotten late without them realizing. The kitchen was spotless, as he hadn’t prepared any food.

She stood up. “Come on, let’s go out for dinner.”

Nian Qi obediently put on a mask and followed her out. It was peak hours, so the elevator was a bit slow. While they waited, Ruan Qing took the chance to explain the country’s household registration system.

“So strict,” he remarked.

“Yes,” Ruan Qing sighed, “and it’s so difficult. I’m at my wit’s end.”

Nian Qi tried to comfort her, “If all else fails, I can perform on the street for money. Didn’t you say that’s what traditional martial arts are for these days?”

She feigned a warning, “City officials would arrest you first. Without an identity, the jobs you could do would be the hardest, lowest-paying ones. And the people hiring you would know exactly how to exploit you, because you’d be an undocumented person, always afraid of the police. Who would they squeeze dry if not you?”

“There used to be fugitives who’d spend all their money and end up doing backbreaking work on construction sites or in coal mines, eating the bare minimum to survive. Eventually, they’d surrender because even prison was better than that.”

“By the way,” she said, suddenly curious, “how well did you earn in your line of work?” She had to ask. Books always depicted these professional assassins as living fabulously, but fiction was still just fiction. Now, with a real-life example before her, how could she not be curious?

No male peacock can resist flaunting his feathers in front of a female.

Nian Qi straightened up, hands in his pockets, and declared, “I’ve been in the business for years—earned countless gold bars and jewels by the crate.” In truth, I could’ve given you a life of luxury.

Ruan Qing felt challenged. “Oh? And where is it now?” She tilted her head, smiling.

Deflated, he replied, “In… that other world.”

The elevator arrived.

“Good enough.” Ruan Qing twirled her car keys around her finger, grinning, “Let’s go.” The one who pays calls the shots. Economic power determines everything. Got it?

… Got it.

Nian Qi sighed dramatically as he stepped into the elevator, following her lead.